Elko New Market weighs dumping Police Department

Three months ago, Elko New Market honored one of its police officers for heroism for placing himself between a drunken driver and several cars, at risk of being smashed head-on.

Now it's debating whether to get rid of its Police Department.

And the dispute over how much money could be saved by instead hiring the Scott County Sheriff's Office to cover the tiny city's needs will not be the last to arise in a year that's shaping up as grim for local finances.

Newly elected City Council Member Bob Hanna -- whose vote total towered over those of his opponents last fall after a cut-the-taxes campaign -- said a merger of services with the county could save millions over time. And it could save a lot more, he adds, if you factor in the cost of a new police station the city may soon need.

But City Administrator Tom Terry responds that crime is rising in a town that has grown this decade at a faster clip than any other in Minnesota with a population of more than 1,000. He also contends that hour-for-hour, the sheriff costs more -- so the only way to cut costs is to reduce police coverage.

Policing now costs the city about $345,000 a year, the city reports, or $62 per officer hour, including overhead. A single full-time deputy would cost the city about $138,000, or $66 an hour. The current cost, which pays for more than 100 hours of coverage per week, amounts to about 30 percent of all property tax proceeds.

"People like the small-town character," Terry said, "which includes a perception of safety. They can go out for a walk and have the kids play in the yard. We get requests for increased policing and have improved our level of service."

"The police eat in here three to four times a week," he said one afternoon, seated at a counter at Fire House Pizza, his spacious, high-tech sports bar at the edge of town, in front of a stack of papers documenting his research. "I've never been harassed by the police."

He does admit, however, that he isn't happy with the city. "I spent two years trying to get a building permit for this restaurant. It was a fiasco. They delayed me on everything."

Then, he said, the shutdown of the major thoroughfare through town for road work bit deeply into his business. "I pay $42,000 in property taxes," he said. "That's why I ran for City Council."

But Police Chief Rick Jensen warned the council not long ago that calls for service had doubled in recent years and that the number of crimes against persons is soaring. From only about 150 in 2003, he said, the figure rose to nearly 250 by 2008.

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Her own take: "Forty hours a week," which is what coverage might shrink down to, "is nothing. Officers have to go to court, take people to jail -- there are quite a few times they aren't inside the city limits. It would drastically cut protection."

What an irony, she said, considering that Twin Cities television cameras made it to Elko New Market just last fall to honor officer Steve Malecka's heroism in positioning his squad in front of a drunk who was driving the wrong way down the highway.

The city's tax rate, Terry adds, is much lower than it was when Elko and New Market were separate cities. And it's much lower than those of other rural enclaves in Scott County, including Jordan, New Prague or Belle Plaine.

The cops are such skinflints, he said, that they've been known to literally buy a used squad on eBay, get a cheap flight to Kansas and drive it back themselves.

Hanna counters that voters stressed by a dire economy put him in office to save money and that police staffing is rapidly bulking up at a time when population growth has cooled -- likely for years to come.

"What did Lakeville spend for its new police station?" he asks. "Millions?"

Lakeville's population is 14 times as big, but the answer, for the record: $15 million for 35,000 square feet.